Semiconductor devices are multilayer structures that are produced on a substrate, such as a silicon wafer, and then diced into individual chips by a mechanical saw or laser beam before packaging. The trend in semiconductor devices is to replace silicon dioxide dielectric layers with low-k dielectric material layers. Low-k dielectric materials are not mechanically strong; therefore, mechanical sawing of low-k dielectric material layers can cause a unique set of device failure mechanisms. A problem with laser scribing semiconductor devices is that the laser beam interacting with the multilayer structures generates a large amount of debris that must be removed or managed. Laser-generated debris is hot and contains molten material. When it lands on the wafer surface, the molten material or slag becomes fused onto the surface. Laser generated debris resulting from scribing is managed by either cleaning the wafer after scribing, or applying a water-based coating to the wafer surface before scribing, to prevent the hot slag from sticking to the wafer surface, and then cleaning the coating along with the resulting debris after scribing. Coating and cleaning add cost and complexity to the scribing process. What is needed is a method of scribing semiconductor devices quickly and completely, with a minimum of debris generation.